Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences | Rutgers-New Brunswick

Young Minds Meet Young Horses

Project Trains Future Scientists and Improves Equine Health
Photo: A future scientist makes a new friend.

A future scientist makes a new friend.

Sarah Ralston, a Rutgers professor, has created a unique program that teaches Rutgers students to train and handle horses, provides research opportunities to undergraduate students, and is contributing valuable new information to New Jersey's equine industry.

Ralston's research focuses on the nutrition and management of young horses. She has found that the current National Research Council recommendations for feeding young horses are not entirely appropriate for draft-cross sport horses, and is currently further defining the nutrient needs of this type of horse and now investigating the needs of Bureau of Land Management Mustangs.

Another research project is the use of cutting edge metabonomic and genomic studies of osteochondrosis in young horses. This developmental orthopedic disease has a genetic and nutritional basis in horses and other species. She has teamed up with Dr. István Pelczer of Princeton University and Dr. Molly McCue of the University of Minnesota to try to determine the metabolic and genetic defects that make individuals at risk of developing the cartilage lesions and hopefully find a nutrition cure for the syndrome.

Program-related research is available to the public through presentations to horse groups and other scientists. Ralston also is available for consults with horse owners through the program's student-run website: web.mac.com/ru_horses. The yearly auction of the young horses used in the program also serves as a conduit for the public to learn about how Rutgers is assisting the equine industry.

Your monetary support of this program will help ensure that young scientists gain vital experiences that enhance their personal and professional development, and that horses continue to be an important part of Rutgers research and the New Jersey economy. Contact us for more information or visit Professor Ralston's website.

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